The Joy Of Hunting Without The Killing

May 27, 1986|By Bob Greene.

Probably the column that elicited the angriest response of anything I have ever written was a piece about hunting and hunters I did several years ago. I said that I couldn`t understand why hunters did what they did; how could they take pleasure in killing--for pure fun--another living thing?

I still hear about that column from hunters who were outraged by it. But recently I heard from someone else--a reader who also remembers that column, and who has come up with an idea to replace traditional hunting. To be honest, I can`t find any flaws in her reasoning.

Her name is Diane Pearson, and she is a 29-year-old secretary in Colorado Springs, Colo. ``I have talked with a great many hunters,`` she said. ``When I talk with them, they end up throwing their hands in the air and saying, `You just don`t understand!` And I agree--I don`t understand how people can kill animals and derive joy out of it.

``The interesting thing is, many hunters don`t fit the stereotype at all. Many of them I have found to be caring people. They tell me that they like to hunt because they enjoy being outdoors having good times with their friends

--and that if an animal comes along, they feel obligated to shoot it. But they tell me that they get no thrill out of doing the actual killing.``

So Diane Pearson thought a lot about it, and she came up with a new plan for hunting. She has committed it to paper, and I will excerpt some of it here.

``Hunters would gather in their comrade packs, as they`ve always done, and prepare for a week`s worth of camping and hunting. They would purchase their hunting licenses, and go out looking for deer.

``Once established in the wilderness, each hunter would stalk his prey and, as he got within range, sight in on the target with an odd-looking rifle. Aiming carefully, he shoots. A sound very much like the sound of a bullet exploding from the rifle cracks the air, and the herd stampedes. Even though no animal has fallen to the ground, the hunter has been successful. A small light on the rifle glows red, indicating a direct kill--and an instant photograph of his target falls to the hunter`s feet.

``Pleased and confident, the hunter makes his way back to the camp with his `kill.` When he arrives at camp, another one of his buddies has also made a kill and is already displaying the photograph. The two hunters compare photographs and establish who made the bigger and better `kill.`

``The others hunters try, over the next few days, to also make their hunting licenses pay off. Soon there are several pictures hanging at the campsite.

``On the day of their scheduled return, the hunters swing by the ranger station to register their kills. A ranger examines the photograph to verify its authenticity, and then directs the hunter to drive around to the back of the station. There the ranger directs that an appropriate deer carcass be tied onto the hunter`s vehicle. The kill is matched according to sex and size of the animal in the photograph as closely as possible.

``Triumphantly, the hunter returns home.``

Ah . . . but now you are asking, where do these deer carcasses come from? Diane Pearson has an answer to that.

``Two weeks before the hunting season officially opens, armed rangers gather at selected spots in the woods. They go out in teams to where herds have been spotted earlier in the day by helicopter. They then kill selected animals: those animals that are old, sick, or obviously small and weak are shot. Then, all except the sick are hauled away in refrigerated trucks and tested for disease, to later be distributed to the successful hunters.

``The result? No hunters are accidentally shot or killed. Farmers can rest easier knowing their cattle are safe. No wounded animals will be left to suffer on their own if the hunter is unable to catch up to them.

``And, most importantly, the deer population is thinned--not by taking the biggest and strongest (those that can best survive a long, cold winter without starving), but by taking those that appear to have the greatest possibility of starving. This `more natural selection` would insure that the larger, stronger animals would be alive to breed in the spring, thus providing a deer population that would be larger, stronger and healthier for generations to come.

``There is only one real change in this method of hunting from the old method: The hunter does not actually kill the animal himself. But, then, no hunter I have ever talked with admitted the killing aspect to be a joy of hunting. The reasons most hunters cite are: saving animals from starving through the winter; hunting for food; getting back to nature; the skill needed in stalking the prey and in the aim required to kill it; an excuse for the

`boys` to get together; and tradition.``

Diane Pearson said that, as much sense as her method makes to her, it will probably never come to pass.

``For all the hunters` protestations,`` she said, ``there are still a lot of people out there who secretly believe that they cannot be real men until they have personally destroyed a life. I guess that`s the sad truth.``